The three-count indictment charged the couple with willfully failing to report at least $768,333 in taxable income during tax years between 2004 and 2006, and evading $286,175 in federal taxes.

Gonzales said the indictment was superseded by an 11-count indictment that added Gutierrez as a co-defendant on July 27, 2011.

The indictment of conspiracy and theft of government property against Gutierrez and Joseph C. Kupfer is related to the federal "Help America Vote Act" funds administered by former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, he said.

The indictment added two charges of obstruction of justice relating to a federal audit and investigation into the misuse of federal HAVA funds, and a charge of laundering $630,000.

The indictment also included the three original tax evasion charges against the Kupfers, Gonzales stated in the press release.

It also included provisions seeking forfeiture of any property constituting proceeds traceable to the offenses, and a money judgment of almost $2.6 million.

Advertisement

At the time of the events described in the superseding indictment, Gutierrez and Joseph C. Kupfer were providing consulting services to the New Mexico Secretary of State's office under HAVA contracts. Elizabeth D. Kupfer was an employee of the New Mexico Attorney General's Office who had been detailed to work for the Secretary of State's office.

In 2012, a federal judge severed the three tax evasion counts from the indictment for the purpose of trying the Kupfers in a separate trial, and trying Gutierrez and Joseph C. Kupfer in another trial on the conspiracy, theft, obstruction of justice and money laundering charges.

The Kupfers were found guilty on all three tax evasion counts in an August 2012 trial. Between 2004 and 2006, the Kupfers received more than $1.3 million from their Kupfer Consulting business, but only reported $502,541 to the IRS.

In the Gutierrez and Joseph C. Kupfer trial, evidence showed that between April 2003 and December 2006, the Secretary of State's office administered almost $20 million of HAVA funds through a number of contracts, including a multi-million dollar contract for voting-related advertising for Gutierrez's business, which he solely owned, and three small contracts awarded to Joseph C. Kupfer's company for increasing voting accessibility for the disabled.

Gonzales stated in the release that evidence at Gutierrez's and Joseph C. Kupfer's trial that the men together defrauded the United States by stealing federal HAVA funds and converting those funds for their own use.

During the eight-day trial in Albuquerque, evidence showed Gutierrez received $6.3 million in HAVA funds from the state, but only submitted documentation for $3.4 million, resulting in an overpayment to Gutierrez's company of $2.5 million, Gonzales stated in the release.

Joseph C. Kupfer's company also received a series of nine payments from Gutierrez's company totaling $746,375 in HAVA funds between October 2004 and November 2006, Gonzales said.

The payments far exceeded the value of any work Kupfer's company performed for Gutierrez's company, and Gutierrez nor his company submitted any documentation to the Secretary of State's office that Gutierrez retained Kupfer's company as a subcontractor.

They also submitted false invoices for services, attempted to obstruct an audit by the Election Assistance Commission and attempted to conceal taking the federal funds.

"The message behind the jury's guilty verdict is that those who do business with government agencies will be held to the same high standards as government officials," Gonzales said.Contact Duane Barbati at dbarbati@alamogordonews.com.